Once upon a time....
Don't you just love that line? Ok. Moving on. This is the background story of Rumplestiltskin.
WARNING! This is a brother's Grimm story and NOT Disney. It's pretty depressing compared o the fairy tale la-la-land, but I actually love Grimm's since they actually paint a pretty brilliant picture of how dark and twisted we can be. Yep. Enjoy ;)
Rumpelstiltskin
Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a
beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the king,
and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, "I have a
daughter who can spin straw into gold."
The king said to
the miller, "That is an art which pleases me well, if your daughter is as
clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the
test."
And when the girl
was brought to him he took her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave
her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, "Now set to work, and if by
to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the
night, you must die."
Thereupon he
himself locked up the room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor
miller's daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to do, she had
no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and she grew more and more
frightened, until at last she began to weep.
But all at once
the door opened, and in came a little man, and said, "Good evening,
mistress miller, why are you crying so?"
"Alas,"
answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how
to do it."
"What will
you give me," said the manikin, "if I do it for you?"
"My necklace," said the girl.
The little man
took the necklace, seated himself in front of the wheel, and whirr, whirr,
whirr, three turns, and the reel was full, then he put another on, and whirr,
whirr, whirr, three times round, and the second was full too. And so it went on
until the morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the reels were full of
gold.
By daybreak the
king was already there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and
delighted, but his heart became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter
taken into another room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her
to spin that also in one night if she valued her life. The girl knew not how to
help herself, and was crying, when the door opened again, and the little man
appeared, and said, "What will you give me if I spin that straw into gold
for you?"
"The ring on
my finger," answered the girl.
The little man
took the ring, again began to turn the wheel, and by morning had spun all the
straw into glittering gold.
The king rejoiced
beyond measure at the sight, but still he had not gold enough, and he had the
miller's daughter taken into a still larger room full of straw, and said,
"You must spin this, too, in the course of this night, but if you succeed,
you shall be my wife."
Even if she be a
miller's daughter, thought he, I could not find a richer wife in the whole
world.
When the girl was
alone the manikin came again for the third time, and said, "What will you
give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?"
"I have
nothing left that I could give," answered the girl.
"Then
promise me, if you should become queen, to give me your first child."
Who knows whether
that will ever happen, thought the miller's daughter, and, not knowing how else
to help herself in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted, and
for that he once more spun the straw into gold.
And when the king
came in the morning, and found all as he had wished, he took her in marriage,
and the pretty miller's daughter became a queen.
A year after, she
brought a beautiful child into the world, and she never gave a thought to the
manikin. But suddenly he came into her room, and said, "Now give me what
you promised."
The queen was
horror-struck, and offered the manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he
would leave her the child. But the manikin said, "No, something alive is
dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."
Then the queen
began to lament and cry, so that the manikin pitied her.
"I will give
you three days, time," said he, "if by that time you find out my
name, then shall you keep your child."
So the queen
thought the whole night of all the names that she had ever heard, and she sent
a messenger over the country to inquire, far and wide, for any other names that
there might be. When the manikin came the next day, she began with Caspar,
Melchior, Balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one after another, but to
every one the little man said, "That is not my name."
On the second day
she had inquiries made in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there,
and she repeated to the manikin the most uncommon and curious. Perhaps your
name is Shortribs, or Sheepshanks, or Laceleg, but he always answered,
"That is not my name."
On the third day
the messenger came back again, and said, "I have not been able to find a
single new name, but as I came to a high mountain at the end of the forest,
where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, there I saw a little
house, and before the house a fire was burning, and round about the fire quite
a ridiculous little man was jumping, he hopped upon one leg, and shouted -
'To-day I bake,
to-morrow brew,
the next I'll
have the young queen's child.
Ha, glad am I that no one knew
that
Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.'"
You may imagine
how glad the queen was when she heard the name. And when soon afterwards the
little man came in, and asked, "Now, mistress queen, what is my
name?"
At first she
said, "Is your name Conrad?"
"No."
"Is your
name Harry?"
"No."
"Perhaps
your name is Rumpelstiltskin?"
"The devil
has told you that! The devil has told you that," cried the little man, and
in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole
leg went in, and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands
that he tore himself in two.
